Al-Qaeda militants killed Syrian rebel commander - FSA spokesman

A senior figure of the rebel Free Syrian Army has been executed by Al-Qaeda-linked militants during negotiations. Multiplying conflicts between moderate and extremist rebels confronting President Assad might lead to an opposition split-up.

Supreme Military Council member Kamal Hamami, also known for his
call-sign Abu Bassel al-Ladkani, was meeting with members of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Syrian port city of
Latakia when he was murdered, FSA spokesman Qassem Saadeddine
informed Reuters.

“The Islamic State phoned me saying that they killed Abu
Bassel and that they will kill all of the Supreme Military
Council,” Saadeddine said. “He met them to discuss battle
plans.”

Iraqi Al-Qaeda in Syria

The Islamic State of Iraq group is considered to be an umbrella
organization for a long list of insurgency groups, including
members linked to Al-Qaeda, the former Mujahideen Shura Council,
and various other groups that wish to establish a unified Islamic
theocracy within the majority Sunni regions of Iraq.

The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,
arrived to northern Syria to take control over Al-Qaeda
operations in the country. Al-Baghdadi is seen by the Syrian
opposition front as being more interested in imposing radical
Islam than overthrowing the current government, Reuters reported.

The Islamist Al-Nusra Front, which was officially declared a
“terrorist group” by the US in May, is considered to be the most
effective opposition group battling Assad.

The group merged with the Islamic State of Iraq in May.

Disunited Syrian opposition consists of motley groups, including
those incorporating radical Islamists from abroad affiliated with Al-Qaeda. Some foreign militants
fighting in Syria have real battle experience confronting
American troops in Iraq.

The interests of radical Islamists effectively go against the
plans of the moderate rebels, who see Assad as the major obstacle
towards making Syria a better place and are fighting the
government army in order to topple the ruler.

Experienced Islamist militants are flocking to Syria for a more
global project: creation of pan-Arabic Islamic Caliphate,
Al-Qaeda’s official objective. Their attitude towards yesterday
civilian ordinary rebels is contemptuous, mostly because it is
the professional fighters who make up the effective nucleus of
the rebel forces.

The open killing of a senior FSA member could signal a serious
conflict emerging between radical Islamists and more moderate
members of the opposition, who suspect radicals of attempting to
highjack the Syrian opposition’s cause. This is not the first
time that Al-Qaeda-linked groups are blamed for assassinating
moderate rebel commanders.

Fractured Syrian opposition splitting up

"Nusra is now two Nusras. One that is pursuing Al-Qaeda's
agenda of a greater Islamic nation, and another that is Syrian
with a national agenda to help us fight Assad," a senior
rebel commander with close ties to the Al-Nusra Front told
Reuters.

"It is disintegrating from within," he added.

Rivalries among the now fractured Syrian opposition look to be
increasing, and are likely behind several assassinations of
commanders within the moderate rebel groups.

"We continue to be concerned about the influence of extremist
groups, including Al-Qaeda in Iraq. This is why we have been
coordinating and discussing with partners the need to continue to
strengthen the moderate opposition and channel any assistance
through the moderate opposition, including the Supreme Military
Council," a US official said in May.

Al-Qaeda’s Iraq arm is thought to number in the thousands. The
group’s foreign fighters seem to be focused not on toppling Assad
but rather on the anti-Western agenda of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman
al-Zawahri.

Growing radicalization of opposition fuels US doubt

The killing of another moderate figure of the FSA’s governing
council is almost certain to further complicate efforts to arm
the opposition - a policy shift which was announced by President
Obama in June.

Efforts to increase aid - specifically to provide arms to Syrian
rebels - seemed to hit an indefinite delay in Congress this week.
Members of both the House and Senate intelligence committees
enacted stringent restrictions on funding, which appeared to
prevent the White House from delivering arms shipments to the
opposition, sources told congressional newspaper The Hill.

The newspaper added that lawmakers moved to block the military
aid because they feared that weapons would fall into the hands of
terrorist groups.

“Whatever we do, we have to
make sure we do it right,” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger,
the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on
Tuesday.

“If we are going to arm, we
have to make sure we have control of what arms are out there and
how people are trained to use those arms so they don’t fall into
the hands of our enemy Al-Qaeda,” added Ruppersberger.

Adding to concerns that arms could end up becoming tools for
jihadist elements of the Syrian opposition, Iran is thought to be
training Hezbollah fighters within Syria as a counterweight to
Sunni-backed Al-Qaeda groups.

A car bomb exploded in a Hezbollah-controlled region of Beirut
on Tuesday, adding to mounting evidence that Syria’s civil war -
now comprising of Al-Qaeda insurgent elements - is spilling
across the border into Lebanon. The evidence has triggered fears
of a wider regional conflict.

Hezbollah’s role in Syria’s ongoing conflict became clear in May,
when it led a 17-day assault against the rebel-held town of
Qusair – located just five miles north of Lebanon. Since then,
Hezbollah forces have been deployed alongside Syrian government
forces in Damascus and Homs.